SALTBURN

Saltburn-by-the-Sea is a seaside resort in the unitary authority of
Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire,
England. The town is around 12 miles (19 km) east of Middlesbrough, and
had a population of 5,912 at the 2001 Census.

General view of the course,
viewed from Hazelgrove, for the 1906 speed trials.

Algy Lee Guinness with his
brother Kenneth (left) and the Darracq 200 on Saltburn Sands 1907-09

Saltburn Speed Trails 1922

Malcolm Campbell on Saltburn
Sands

Tourist Class speed trial
race, Saltburn sands 1906.

Speed Trials on the sands at Saltburn by
the Sea

Round the
last Boulby headland is a green crumble of cliff-top and then the high
but still magnificent table-top of Huntcliff. It is one of the highest
cliffs in England. It thrusts out long and rough. A hazard of red
boulders at its feet runs out into a long shambles of rock.
Then the sands begin, sweeping north for over six miles. They are the
'finest in England', white, wide, empty, silken, safe. At low tide they
are wet and sculpted in ridges, flashing with salt pools,glittering in
places with brush-strokes of shiny black sea-coal. The wind hurtles
over them and mile-long snakes of fine, stinging white sand blow like
smoke just above their surface. On windless days, a bluish light
reflects in them. They are the sands of the 'Walrus and the Carpenter'
which Lewis Carroll is said to have written after a day here with
friends during a long vacation from Oxford.Jane Gardam, 'The Iron Coast' 1994

The miles of flat sands at Saltburn have provided the
visitor with a number of different pastimes - cricket, sand sculptures
and donkey riding have all played their part. In the early 1900's the
more adventurous looked upon the beach with a different perspective
with the pursuit of excitement and speed as their goal.

Speed Trials

In the early part of the 20th century, Saltburn boasted
five miles of hard, flat, smooth sands which were several hundred feet
wide at low tide.

It was in July 1904 that they were first considered for
use for motor racing and the following year the first run on the sands
was made by L.R. Anderson.

On July 14th 1906, the Yorkshire Automobile Club
organised the first Motor Races and Speed Trials to be held at
Saltburn. 60,000 spectators watched as Warrick Wright set a Yorkshire
record of 96.5mph, although the real star of the day was probably W
Ashford, whose 15hp steam car reached 54mph. There were six events in
all, the final one being for touring cars which was won by Mr A Farnell
with his 30hp Daimler.

The following year saw the arrival of Algernon Lee
Guinness, the brewery heir, with the world's fastest car - a
French-made 200hp Darracq with an impressive missile-shaped tank tied
to the top of its engine. Lee Guinness - "Algy" to his friends - was up
against a Dietrich which belonged to the Maharajah Tikara.

Although it was June the Northern Echo reported that
"The heavy rain had made the sands wet and heavy but with a whirr and a
flash the cars went by appearing to almost rival the streaks of forked
lightning which a few minutes before had flashed across the sky." The
Maharajah's motor barely moved but Algy reached "a marvellous speed" of
111.84mph - an unofficial English record

The following year, because of the tides, the trials
took place in the early morning. Again thousands of spectators watched
as Algy Guinness once again raced across the firm dry sands between
Marske and Saltburn to equal the British record of 121.6mph.

In 1909, he was back again with his Darracq. The weather
was again dreadful but Algy scorched across the sodden sands: AW Tate
came second, his Mercedes reaching 92.43mph. Despite the fact that Algy
only clocked 120.26mph compared to his 1908 run it was strangely
described as an English record.

After his final run, Algy examined his engine and
noticed that piston number six had cracked. The Darracq was taken home,
dumped in the garage and Algy bought other, faster vehicles. Eventually
he sold the Darracq to a dealer, but got cold feet days later.
Unfortunately the dealer had started dismantling and all that was left
was its V8 engine. The engine passed through various hands and has
recently been restored. In April 2006 it was fired up for the first
time since its last race at Saltburn and it appeared once again on the
sands here on September 19th 2009.

1908 June 28 Saltburn British & European
record flying kilometre 121.57 Equals world record

1909 June 26 Saltburn FTD flying kilometre 120.25

In the years before the First World War, when a car
manufacturer wanted more horsepower, they just built a bigger engine.
Fiat was one of the leading makes of the time, and had been successful
in racing with their S61 and S74 models, the S74 having a four cylinder
engine of around 14 litres. The concept of the Land Speed Record was
not yet established, but the world records for the flying kilometre and
flying mile were highly prized. In 1911 the enormous 'Blitzen' Benz of
over 21 litres held both these records, and Fiat decided to attack them
with the S76.

In 1911 Fiat tried the car out at Brooklands, then took
it to the sprint event at Saltburn Sands. The driver, Pietro Bordino,
spurned the idea of putting the car on a trailer and drove it from
Brooklands to Saltburn on the public highway – a 300 hp racing car with
stub exhausts belching several feet of flame at passers-by. The
intrepid passenger reported that on the journey the speedo sometimes
read over 120 mph. At Saltburn, although the sand was damp and hence
slow, the Fiat captured the flying mile record at a mere) 116 mph, but
Fiat were happy and saw no need to make further use of the car.

The First World War interrupted the events and it wasn't
till July 1920 that the events recommenced.

In 1922 Malcolm Campbell raced here in an Austro Daimler
and won the event for cars up to 2,500cc. More importantly, Campbell
also borrowed the Louis Coatalen 350hp Sunbeam and brought it to
Saltburn determined to set his first land speed record. This same car
then held the current record at 133.75mph when Lee Guinness drove it at
Brooklands on 17th May 1922. Campbell believed that without the
restrictions of the banking that was at Brooklands he could set a
faster speed on the sands. On his first run on 17th June 1922 he roared
down the two mile run up before entering the measured mile and achieved
130.6mph. The return run achieved a faster speed at 134.76mph despite
being into the wind and having narrowly to miss a dog that suddenly
appeared on the beach. Campbell went on to complete six runs, ending
the day with a record of 138.08mph and his first land speed record.
However, this was not recognised by the international body, The
Commission Sportive, in Paris, could not approve the figures as the
Yorkshire Automobile Club timekeepers had used hand-held stopwatches
instead of the electrical timing apparatus required by the official
rules. This was the first time the authorities failed to accept one of
Campbell's records and unfortunately it was not to be the last.

By 1938 the Saltburn sands were no longer considered
suitable for racing and the sands further to the north at Redcar and
Coatham were used instead although they were not as good as there were
wet and dry patches. The Second World War interrupted the racing and it
wasn't till 1946 when the beaches were completely cleared of barbed
wire and mines that racing could begin again.

In 1948 Bob Berry raced here with his motorcycles and
1955 saw the last mixed motorcycle and car race meeting at Redcar. In
1962, some local bike racers formed the Tees-Tyne Motor Cycle Sand
Racing Club with special permission to race obtained from the Local
Authority and the first event was held on 8th September 1962. There was
a further event in 1963 but this was only followed by a few more. The
sands had deteriorated and there was no suitable stretch of flat, hard
sand to use for high speed racing, a condition which still remains
today.

Author, motor historian and Middlesbrough Motor Club
Hill Climb organiser, Ernie Crust describes the origins and development
of speed racing on the sands at Saltburn and Marske.

Mr Mark Walker with his 1905 Darracq , and Mr Neil Tuckett in his 1911
Mod T.Ford. Mr Walkers Darracq set the land speed record in 1908 driven
by a Sir Algernon Lee Guinness, and set a speed of 121.57 mph on
Saltburn sands.